Gnomengarde DM Guide | How to Run Dragon of Icespire Peak

[@JNJTabletop]

Thanks for watching! We've got many other DM Tips to help you get the most out of your games! Check them out on our channel and in this playlist... kzbin.info/aero/PL6dmrZg4pm2qOzacuy1icbfxTvjj-PKf6 For more tips on running the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure, check out our growing playlist here: kzbin.info/aero/PL6dmrZg4pm2phOB99W_qDcTHfRO_ipO-i

[@thehexvexed8853]

MY group decided to lie to the king and say they defeated the Mimic - thus completeing the quest and heading back to phandalin. Much later on i added my own quest and sent them back to gnomengarde to collect an item an NPC had one of the gnomes make and when they arrived the place was empty as the mimic had eaten all of the gnomes because they didn't kill it.

[@JNJTabletop]

Beautiful. Your players’ choice mattered!!

[@thevincehimself92]

Gnomen Ramsey is in the kitchen prepping tomorrow's meal and calling his staff a bunch of Donuts, at least he is in my version of Gnomengarde.

[@JNJTabletop]

HECK YES!!! This is exactly the kind of tip/advice we need!

[@nickhayley]

Puts a piece of bread either side of the gnomes head and tells them to say they are a "fluffmuffin sandwich" 😂

[@yngv1]

I just ran this quest as my first time DMing for a group of first time players. We had a lot of fun! I sadly forgot the wild magic gimmick but I think it could’ve over-complicated things. I made an NPC, a young, over-energetic gnome named Quinn who was exiled from Gnomengarde because they were sure he was Orryn and Warryn’s killer. The PCs met him in Stonehill Inn, crying inconsolably into a pot of rice porridge. Clearing his name was a good of motivation for the group.

[@jammer9300]

Thanks for the video. I just dm'd this yesterday as my group's first quest. Ended up using the wild magic results for wine barrel "testing" and had the mimic pop out of the wall instead. Led to some crazy results.

[@JNJTabletop]

Decided to throw things against the wall to see if they stick, did you? Lol

[@danielmunoz7770]

Great video man, Thank you. I made the "kingdom" thing as if the Gnomes proudly called themselves the great kingdom of Gnomengarde, and made the characters slowly realise that it's more of a proud thing from them than an actual kingdom. fun quest I had a blast confusing the team with the Wild Magic.

[@JNJTabletop]

I love this approach!! Thank you for sharing it!

[@jenniferatterton1587]

When my players reached the wine barrel room, I had one of the gnomes from the kitchen run up and tell them that it was around here somewhere where one of the gnomes was taken, so to be careful. Otherwise, they were going to ignore this room. After that, I asked them to do a survival check and I foreshadowed unusually shaped footprints that produced a vague trail on the dusty floor of this room. Using the barrel-shaped mimic as a reference, so the footprints were unidentifiable and strange, which they are. Then they asked in what direction, so even when they succeeded a further detection roll, I made the choice to gloss over that as I wanted them to check each barrel. As a result, the rogue in my group was immediately grappled and that was a great surprise to my players.

[@MrCCCCGGGG]

Awesome!!

[@vendettawasd4516]

Meanwhile my players: Go through the secret door, one of them kills his own familiar (a crab) and, after failing to convince the king that the crab was the mimic, GASLIGHT THE KING INTO THINKING THE OTHER KING WAS A MIMIC, however they start wondering if it could be true and STAB THE OTHER KING'S LEG "JUST IN CASE"

[@JNJTabletop]

Oh my That’s about as shenanigan-y (that’s a word, right?) as it gets!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@anti_stasis]

I took the advice for having a friendly gnome come and help. Thanks for the idea!

[@BlackShortCurley]

After killing the mimic, players stayed at gnomengarde overnight, while Dazzledob & Fiddlestip experimented on the mimic. They gave a syringe to the players full of mimic serum; as a demonstration, a flower became momentarily monstrous before dying. At the Dwarven excavation, a player wanted to use the syringe on the ochre jelly... Rolled a Nat 1. Next session we're dealing with the aftermath of a mimic injection 😂

[@JNJTabletop]

Fantastic way for players to get creative! Do you have any plans on how the ochre jelly will be affected??

[@bknipp48103]

@@JNJTabletopsounds like “tune in next time for the newest plot twist in Stranger Things!”

[@paavohirn3728]

I'm more and more a fan of the whole adventure 😆 Thanks for your points!

[@tangfox]

Thank you for the video! My group is preparing to play through this quest, and it is one of their first DnD adventures. It's no coincidence that there are two barrel crab machines in G6. I am hoping that one of the players comes up with the idea to drive the barrel crab into the autoloading crossbow platform to disable it. No need to kill Factore and incur the wrath of the gnomes.

[@JNJTabletop]

Hehehe that sounds like it should be a lot of fun!!

[@mhouff71285]

I was asked to be our new DM. I have been playing for just two years and my group has been playing for about 10 years. These videos have helped me prepare and be more confident while playing.

[@JNJTabletop]

That’s awesome and we’re so happy to help! You’re gonna do great!!

[@davepierunc]

These are very helpful - thanks! I must say that as a first time GM, starting out with first time players, I wish they had made an adventure that could actually work with level 1 characters, particularly ones just learning the ropes and apt to make mistakes.

[@JNJTabletop]

So happy to hear that we’re helping! Balancing things for level 1 isn’t always easy, especially if you want to keep a real sense of risk and danger. I just think some of that is a lesson for another day when you’re dealing with a player’s very first experience with the game.

[@fylmriss]

@@JNJTabletop sweet that you try to defend this book, but the three starter quests are worded in a way that just will make most people do Umbrage hill first and that Manticore can kill three level one characters per turn. If you have absolutely new players, chances are low that they will try to talk or if they do, find the right words that won't turn the scene into a fight. It's just extremely bad design, especially when they thank two dozen playtesters in the back of the book.

[@JNJTabletop]

We completely agree. That’s why we suggest starting at level 2 😉

[@briananthony-geare7168]

I think conclave is the best descriptor for the 20 gnomes. A group of inventors and support staff using the seclusion of Gnomengarde to come up with crazy inventions and maybe present them to a guild in Neverwinter.

[@JNJTabletop]

That is an EXCELLENT word to describe this group of knuckleheads! Kingdom is just… not accurate lol

[@justincasebro1567]

Incredible insights and ideas. Really appreciate it

[@commonviewer2488]

So I just ran my first session with Gnomengarde with a few of your suggestions. Things were fun, but did _not_ go as planned 😃. So the plan was for the party to be asked to investigate the disappearance of two gnomes while in Gnomengarde split up in pairs, find out about some magical gadgets, including a missing Port Ring (Dimension Door once per day), and have an encounter with the mimic which would kill a gnome and have them flee from it. Afterwards, it would Dimension Door away, causing the party to evacuate the gnomes while being wary of touching anything in search of the monster. Had some Alien-vibes to it. 😈 The plan went out the window when one pc decided ultimately to make their stand and fight. Alone. As a Lvl 2 Monk. Against a Mimic. 😬 Somehow, while the rest of the party regrouped and quickly made their way back to help, the Monk spent four rounds in combat with the Raging Mimic (Thanks, Wild Magic table.) Somehow, the Mimic rolled low for *everything* until the party arrived, at which point, it one shots the Monk, and grapples their unconscious body 🙃. The Monk being Dragonborn, had used their breath weapon twice (used the new rules), to which the Mimic failed then critically failed the DC on. The Monk dealt significant damage 🥲. When they attempted unarmed strikes is when things went bad for them 😞. The rest of the party, a Tiefling Barbarian and a Rogue High Elf, plus Pickled Pete showed up, and landed max damage on the thing while Pickled Pete used Grease to attempt to free the Monk. The way things were going though, the Monk would perish before the Mimic. 😢 Then they rolled a Nat 20 on their death save 🙏, and arose at 1 HP. They failed to escape the Mimic and took damage, but it was enough to reset Death Saves, giving them enough of an extension on life to be freed from the Mimic's grasp and live through the rest of combat. It was hype for the whole table, we ended the session there. Can't wait to issue rewards and a Lvl up. 🥳

[@JNJTabletop]

HOLY CRAP THAT SOUNDS EPIC!!! The old adage, “Don’t split the party” seems like it was on full display here. It also sounds like you handled yourself really well in some crazy circumstances. I commend you for not pulling punches when a player decides to do something reckless. Sure the dice were with them with that CLUTCH nat 20 death save but that’s the position they put themselves in. Well done!!

[@JoFlo93]

My players chose this as our first session! My first as DM too and they’ve enjoyed it! The Mimic made for a real cool boss fight to end the night.

[@JNJTabletop]

Love that! How was finding the mimic for them? Did you have to make any adjustments?

[@JoFlo93]

@@JNJTabletop Well they split up so they could search all of the barrels and found it immediately lol Originally I was gonna have the Mimic roam and pick off the gnomes one by one but I got nervous 😂 The battle was definitely challenging and the bard hit 0 HP but thankfully we had a Paladin with lay hands to bring him back. After that, they decided to take a long rest in the crab room lol! Will def be implementing some of your suggested changes going forward!

[@JNJTabletop]

Another person just commented a few minutes ago about splitting the party on this quest and the results were almost severe as well. Sometimes things don’t go as planned out there and I applaud you for staying the course on keeping the mimic in place and letting the players handle the consequences of their decisions. It only leads to better and more meaningful choices and gameplay in the future!

[@vidalvelazquez6814]

In my campaign, room G12 - the sleeping chambers - is dimly lit and filled with the sound of snoring gnomes. However, the adventurers also hear a strange squelching sound. Investigating the alcoves and following the sounds reveals a wide-eyed gnome lying on one of the cots. The cot has two appendages wrapped over the gnome's body and mouth. A look of terror and a muffled plea for help start the action as the adventurers face an unexpected second mimic. The other gnomes may wake up groggy and confused or alert and ready to help (dm's choice.)

[@tylerdruskoff9689]

Please make these faster lol. I’m DMing this and my players liked what you said to add. We are working through about a mission a week and I’m running out of your videos before we reach a mission you haven’t done a video on. I don’t wanna sound rude but these videos are really good.

[@JNJTabletop]

That’s not rude at all! I’m very happy to hear that they’ve been helpful! This is actually something that we’ve talked about doing and it’s much higher on our priority list. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the time to make an additional video in a week but Josh joined in on the Mts Toe Gold Mine video. Since we normally do one video a week, we thought incorporating this into our joint list would make sure we can help more people with DoIP. We do have a discord server so we can help stay connected a bit more directly if that interests you. Check our linktree in the description for that and much more.

[@gobbo9113]

Thank you so much I have to dm this tomorrow and since none of us have ever played and I dont trust my players I have to make it easier. Again this helps sooo much

[@JNJTabletop]

So happy to help! We haven’t finished this series just yet but we’ve got so much more help for you on this channel! Please let us know how it goes!

[@gobbo9113]

@@JNJTabletop gonna tell right here

[@gobbo9113]

@@JNJTabletop btw I’m a perfectionist and your gameplay of this campaign made me sure that im able to dm thank you again

[@JNJTabletop]

Not sure if you’re saying we set the bar so low that anyone can do it or not but I’ll take that as a compliment 😂😉 JK

[@gobbo9113]

@@JNJTabletop nonono poor choice of words on my side. I meant to say you guys gave me confidence 😅 ( In my abilities )

[@DeathMetalDadReacts]

Thabk you for taking the time to compile and release all of this in depth information!

[@JNJTabletop]

You’re welcome!! So happy to help!!

[@gorillariot123]

Thank you for the video and shoutout! I am definitely enjoying your videos!

[@JNJTabletop]

No problem! And that's much appreciated!

[@tristenpawlachuk7128]

Im about to run this and i love the idea of the dimension door item. I think in going to add a quirk to it so and call it Duh-mension Door. The inventirs made it and it teleports the user into a random location within distance but not into solid objects

[@JNJTabletop]

That sounds wonderfully chaotic!! Please let us know how it goes!

[@mattthiel2050]

I did not like the fan until one of the party members asked to shoot a bolt at it and got a natural twenty and flipped the lever

[@familybuening7510]

I know this is old, but I am currently running this campaign and have found your videos very helpful. We did go through Gnomenguard and I used the dimension door but my playing is a takes trophies type so I have the trophy from the mimic give him the ability

[@JNJTabletop]

I’m happy to hear we’ve been helpful! Sounds like you’ve got a good thing going there!

[@kenhorn7088]

Great video! I am super excited to run this encounter as I am a HUGE fan of the video game “Prey”. My player is a higher level as they completed lost mines of phandelver so I plan to edit it a bit. I think I will have multiple lesser mimics and one “boss” mimic. I’m going for a horror theme for this

[@JNJTabletop]

That plan sounds delightfully horrific! We’d love to know what you do and how that goes if you care to share!

[@andrewbradley4606]

Running this campaign now, my players picked this and didn’t pick the dwarven excavation. They completed the quest much easier than I anticipated. They were invited to stay over since it was late at night, which they did… they will awake to orcs invading and chaos that ensues

[@JNJTabletop]

That’s a fun way to handle things! Nicely done!

[@josefk332]

I think the gnomes in the kitchen would want to know the party’s backstory and assure themselves that no-one in the party is a shapeshifter. They might ask ‘how long have you known each other’ or ‘have any of you been acting strangely of late’ and once convinced that they’re not a threat leave it at that and say no more.

[@zachl7078]

I ran this the other day as my first time DMing with 4 brand new players as well. They IMMEDIATELY found the mimic first thing, one of them came very close to dying but I fudged the mimics health a bit and they came out on top. It was very satisfying for them but now I don't know how to handle them exploring Gnomengarde with the only threat already handled

[@JNJTabletop]

This is an issue with this adventure. That’s why I recommended the one time teleport to keep things interesting. Maybe come up with odd ways to convince the kings that the threat is gone. That could possibly make things exciting.

[@zachl7078]

@JNJ Tabletop I definitely wish I had seen this video beforehand. If I could do it over I'd have wanted my players to spend more time figuring things out as gnomes keep going missing. I'd considered making there have been two mimics after all but I feels unsatisfying. Do mimics leave obvious corpses? I assume my players will parade the body around as evidence

[@JNJTabletop]

I’m not sure about what happens to a mimic after they die. They have acid things going on so maybe their bodies melt away into some kind of goopy paste or maybe a creepy powder! I’d make that up as needed lol. The other thing is, you didn’t expect things to go the way they did and that’s not only ok, that’s about as “D&D” as it gets. Tell the group they kicked butt and let them feel awesome about it. You have plenty of other adventures in this module where you can “make it up to them” 😈 Plus, I/we reviewed each module in this playlist and we got you covered for the future 😉

[@zachl7078]

@JNJ Tabletop yeah, you're right. I appreciate the replies, and the other videos. Been watching through them all so I'm more prepared for the upcoming quests. Thank you!

[@JNJTabletop]

Our pleasure, Zach!

[@idci0802]

It's kind of "everything is available" in this scenario, for example on the Crossbow room i shot 1 of my players and hopefully failed with a 3 on a d20 and i took that to make the gnome like "oh it worked!!! Awesome! come and join me trying this incredible machine" and "magically" the gnome create some barrels to shot at and some of them where filled with the purple mushrooms, it was fun :D

[@JNJTabletop]

Without a doubt this adventure is all about chaos!

[@idci0802]

​@@JNJTabletop Definitely, this was my first GM session and it was greate because i read Gnomengarde at least 3 times, after this the party decided to go to the Dwarven Excavation and that one i did not read at all so it was a disaster haha, also one of the Ochre jelly throw 4 critics and it was a battle not quite "enjoyable" haha so i left the Orcs behind, i forgot to level up the party after Gnomengarde... newcome mistakes, BTW thanks for these content it helps a lot

[@JNJTabletop]

So happy to help, my friend!

[@LeeGray929]

Thanks

[@MattBoar]

Pls more video! I really enjoing the contents! Im running dragon of icespire peak as my first campain and im doing it as a dm🤓need a lot of suggestions!

[@JNJTabletop]

More How to Run Dragon is Icespire Peak videos are certainly on the way. In the meantime, we have an entire playlist of Dungeon Master Tips that’s designed to help you get the most out of your games 😊

[@anapaulagamezdelvalle7239]

thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!

[@moejeffries422]

Honestly, This is a silly quest. I ran it and played into that. MY two sons were 21 and 18 at the time. They said at the end that it was possibly the most fun they have had on an adventure. THis one is a blast, but you have to know it is ridiculous and be prepared for that.

[@JNJTabletop]

Yes!! Exactly!! Thank you for sharing that!

[@MyFireVideos]

Thank you!

[@JNJTabletop]

You’re welcome! Happy to help!

[@RDFoltz85]

Want to teach fam to play D&D and have only even been a player myself (and only very little.) -- Can someone direct me on where to go to get player maps for the areas involved in this campaign? IE the map we'd place on the table with a grid, figures, etc? I see that the book has small maps inside of it, but that's not for play obviously. I had thought the campaign would come with maps to use for play, but it didn't? Anyone can help direct me on this part of preparing to play?

[@JNJTabletop]

Hi there, happy to help. The Essentials Kit comes with a digital version of the adventure on dndbeyond.com. You can download the images from there easily enough.

[@timsmith4549]

Hey bit late but about to set this up for my group I’m looking at switching now to using a VTT on the tv for battle maps I’m currently using foundry to set it up but roll20, fantasy grounds or some other VTT option would work as well, with foundry it’s easy to set up and hide the DM side

[@simonburda2021]

“Are you old enough to know what a pug is?” Well well my friend are you old enough to know what a pugapegacorn is?😅

[@anapaulagamezdelvalle7239]

thank you!!!

[@HorrorGoreCrew]

I got no gnome miniatures......so i switched it up a bit and when rhe players arrive their met with goblins at entrance...the goblins have slain the gnomes so all through the dungeon i describe dead gnomes....also i added ALOT lf goblin encounters and i let players ride the two crab contraption to fight off goblins

[@JNJTabletop]

Oh wow that sounds like a blood bath! Did you keep the mimic around?

[@HorrorGoreCrew]

@@JNJTabletop yea pretty much kept it all the same just replace gnomes with goblins......wizkids need to do a gnome warband set or something lmao

[@JNJTabletop]

Honestly though, the adventure will be very different but it very much works. Did you add a goblin boss in there as they loot the place? Did you decide to tie them into the larger story somehow?

[@Curlyjoe71]

Thank you, Boo Boo!

[@JNJTabletop]

You know I got you

[@peterlane7128]

My players are all 1st timers but they're also all in their 30s and up. So they're already creative and kind of shenaniganiery. There is no way in HELL I am passing up the opportunity to give them a "sanity ray" and make sure they still have it in another 10-12 levels to use on a beholder 😂😂😂😂😂